The Channel island of Alderney is just three miles long and has only 2000 inhabitants – but the padel craze that is sweeping the world has not passed it by.
Situated just off the coast of Cherbourg, north west France, and north of Guernsey and Jersey, Alderney added padel to its surprisingly rich sporting ecosystem in late August.
The project to build a padel court over one of Alderney Tennis Club’s four tennis courts came about after a local home-owner fell in love with padel during a holiday in Cornwall. He got together with Simon Brazier from the Alderney Sports Foundation and some other local anonymous donors to get the project off the ground.
The Alderney Sports Foundation is a charity set up to help the island’s children access sports coaching in tennis, football, rugby, cricket, sailing, golf, badminton and squash. They were keen to add padel to this diverse offering.
Edward Hill, Chairman of Alderney Tennis Club, played padel extensively when he lived in Spain for 20 years. He is already leading twice-weekly coaching clinics for juniors, adult beginners and more advanced players. The club has flown in external coaches from the UK mainland and Guernsey to help out.
Already, 80 islanders have signed up and the court – which is situated on Platte Saline, between the 1850 Fort Tourgis, the beach and Burhou Island – is in high demand. Teams have formed from the local rugby, tennis and football clubs, as well as the police force and staff from nearby restaurants and hotels. Edward is planning competitions through the winter months.
Edward, who has owned a house on Alderney since 1967 and lived here full-time since 2020, told The Padel Paper that the court has revitalised the island’s tennis club and that plans are already afoot to add more courts.
“It’s a very ‘sticky’ sport,” he said. “Once you’ve played it once, you’re glued! We’ve got people here who are already showing definite signs of becoming padel addicts.
“It has really caught on and is already more than paying its way with the revenue it’s bringing in. We don’t get much rain here, but we do get a lot of wind. It’s not always fun on the tennis court, but the padel court walls protect you so much more.”
The club has begun using Playtomic for court bookings to “drag Alderney into the 21st century!” Edward added: “That has been a major step forward. We simply weren’t attracting the 30-60 age group to the club. We realised the concept of a ‘club’ is 70s and 80s thinking and the new generation prefer the pay and play method. They like that they can use an app to book a court.”
The process of procuring planning, shipping and installing the court happened relatively quickly, but – as any padel club owner will know – it wasn’t without its challenges.
“We came up with the concept over the Easter holidays and had 10 days to get planning approved to change one tennis court into padel,” explained Edward. “We did lots of due diligence and we were helped hugely by court providers Hexa Padel.”
The court went by ship from Spain to the UK, then on a local cargo ship from Poole to Alderney. Fitters came from Spain but when they got to the island there was a massive storm and they had to return home. They said initially they couldn’t return for three months, but Edward took a surprise phone call 10 days later to say they had an unexpected window and were on their way back. The court was opened in late August.
The concern now is that one court won’t be enough, especially when the many second-home owners come back to the island next spring and summer.
Plans are already being hatched to build two further courts and Edward is putting together padel travel packages from London to meet second-home owners’ anticipated demand for court time.
